


Leverage AU Sequel Ficlets

by arboreal_overlords



Series: we change together (the TMA Leverage AU) [2]
Category: Leverage, The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Gen, M/M, Other, a found family has successfully stolen Jon, background jonmartim, bickering and planning heists, mastermind Jon, the TMA leverage crew just chilling in Martin's bookstore/bar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29144112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arboreal_overlords/pseuds/arboreal_overlords
Summary: A collection of sequel ficlets/codas based on existing Leverage episodes that I wrote for tumblr while working to finish Kansas City Shuffle Job. Any and all of these might be expanded into actual sequels.
Relationships: Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist/Tim Stoker
Series: we change together (the TMA Leverage AU) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139042
Comments: 11
Kudos: 19





	1. The Rashomon Job (Homophobic Vase Redux)

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, I'm going to finish the fic proper. In the meantime, here are some Leverage-episode-inspired ficlets/codas I initially wrote for tumblr while trying to get the COVID-era energy to finish the last chapter. I might turn one or all of these into a proper sequel one day when I'm not working ridiculous hours.

1\. **The Rashomon Job (BUT IT'S THE HOMOPHOBIC VASE)** \- _this is objectively one of the best Leverage episodes and the ficlet that I'm most excited about turning into a sequel. For the record, Schwartzwald Books is based on Trident Books in Boston, as the OG Leverage would have wanted._

Jon liked to remind everyone, in retrospect, that this particular argument could have been avoided if they had just left him in peace to answer his emails. 

He was responding to a potential client— some poor sod whose soup kitchen had been overrun by Corruption ants in an attempt to buy out the space for a bougie new grocery store — when Jon was interrupted. Somewhere one floor below, distinctive despite Melanie’s assurances of soundproofing in the office, there was the tinkling sound of glass breaking. Jon’s fingers paused on his keyboard.

“Oh, I think _fucking_ not!” Someone shouted. Jon sighed and shut his laptop.

As he warily descended the stairs that connected James Consulting to the bookstore below, Jon could more sharply hear the very familiar raised voices of his team. He relaxed when he realized that they were shouting at each other rather than an outside threat, their voices slightly blurred by tipsiness. They must have locked up early. 

Jon pushed open the door that connected the hallway to the cafe and bar of Schwartzwald Books, and immediately saw Martin, Melanie, and Daisy locked in debate at the bar. Daisy was gesturing menacingly with the broom and dustpan she was using to clean up the remnants of a pint glass from the floor, at one point lifting Melanie up to sit on the bar by the back of her sweater so that she didn’t step on glass in her socks. Melanie took this in stride without stopping her invective. 

“We’re closed,” the bartender who worked nights said to him with grim but amused certainty, pitching the keys into his hands as he walked back towards the kitchens. “They’re your problem now.” 

Jon fumbled in catching the keys, picking them up from behind one of the bar stools as the chaos continued unfolding in from of him. 

“There’s no way that either of you were within a hundred miles of that place,” Melanie shouted, gesturing loosely with a gin and tonic somewhere in the vicinity of Daisy’s torso. “ _You_ were probably somewhere in a bunker in Russia—”

“Oh, like you weren’t just, y’know, typing on a keyboard somewhere,” Martin blustered, as Daisy pointed at Melanie in agreement. Martin and Daisy teaming up was still such a rare occurrence that Jon grinned and didn’t interrupt the debate, which seemed to be responding to a news story playing out on one of the TVs that hung over the bar. 

Tim was sitting at the periphery of the conversation, drinking from something neon in a cocktail glass and looking insufferably smug about the fight breaking out. 

“Well,” Jon said, sliding behind the bar in an attempt to stake out a neutral territory. “What’s all this about? I thought you were all supposed to be planning our next move against Elias.”

“This is more important,” Melanie snapped. 

Jon blinked. “More important than the omniscient being who wants to kill us all horribly?”

“Oh, we’ll be fine, Boss,” Tim said easily, moving closer from his position at the end of the bar to sling one arm around Jon’s neck. “We outsmarted him last time, we’ll think of something new.” 

“Could poke his eyes out,” Daisy mused.

“Burn down the Institute,” Martin added dreamily. 

“You could do that new Ceaseless Watcher trick on him,” Melanie added, side-eyeing Jon testily. Melanie was still unsettled at what Tim called Jon’s ‘leveling up.’

Martin sighed. “We’re talking about the Vase of Jingdezhen. It’s a Ming vase from the Jiajing period. It was originally given as a gift to a high-ranking ambassador—“

“— yeah, two dead guys, whatever,” Melanie interrupted, waving her hand dismissively at the TV screen. “What you need to understand is that this vase is _homophobic_.”

There was a chorus of agreement, and Jon carefully steadied his face to avoid smiling. “So,” he said, trying to sound as officious as possibile. “Why are we— “ 

“Shush,” Martin said, grabbing the remote from Melanie’s hand and playing the news clip. “ _The Vase of Jingdezhen will be displayed at the British Museum for the first time since it was stolen at this very gallery five years ago_ ,” the anchor continued, gesturing to a blue and white vase perched in a marble showroom. 

“There,” Martin said viciously, hitting pause on the remote with vigor. “Stolen five years ago. I stole it!” 

The bar broke out in protests. Tim rolled his eyes and muttered something that Jon assumed was both self-aggrandizing and endearing. 

Jon allowed himself one delighted, anticipatory smile, while everyone was busy, before clearing his throat. “The Vase of Jingdezhen at the British Museum? Stolen five years ago? You were all there that night?”

They all nodded seriously, still darting competitive looks at each other. “The news came on and Blackwood started boasting,” Daisy added derisively. 

“I was just telling them about one of my best jobs!” Martin protested. “I didn’t even get arrested by Jon!” 

“I thought that was a perk,” Tim added into his cocktail. 

Daisy scowled at Martin. “I know he’s lying.” 

Melanie nodded. “He’s a grifter! It’s his job!”

“Okay wait, I’ve got an idea,” Martin said placatingly. “We let Jon decide. We all tell our own story about how we stole the Vase of Jinghezden and then he decides who the best criminal is.” 

“That’s clear bias,” Daisy protested at the same time as Jon added cheerfully “Well, you’re all the best criminals in my book.” 

“No,” Martin protested, pointing his glass of wine at Jon accusingly. “This is a _competition_.” 


	2. The Girl's Night Out Job (TMA Redux)

**2\. The Girl's Night Out Job** \- _again, one of the best Leverage eps. I didn't feel the need to split the TMA Leverage cast by gender, so this is unofficially titled The 'Jon Makes Some Friends Outside of His Crew, Though They Love HIm Dearly' Job_

“Tim,” Melanie said insistently, rapping on the bar of Schwarzwald Books, where Tim was doing a horrible job at pretending to bartend, “Tim! Guess what we’re doing on Friday night.”

Tim squinted down at the Heist Calendar on his phone, which Martin had meticulously programmed into their (encrypted) group Outlook. Martin’s initial catchphrase— “if it’s not on Outlook, it didn’t happen!”— was banned by every other member of James Consulting. “I . . do we—“

“Wrong!” Melanie sang, brandishing tickets. “We’re going to the RQG live show at the Civic Center.”

“ _What,_ ” Tim said, as Jon and Daisy looked at each other in confusion.

“Front row seats,” Melanie crowed. “Like, so close we might get hit by a hard D20 roll.”

“Mmm,” Jon said encouragingly, from down the bar where he was hunching over a file. “Sounds, um, loud?” Daisy rolled her eyes at him.

Tim was still vibrating out of his skin in excitement “Are they still in the middle of—“

“—The Wilde campaign?” Melanie finished. “Yeah. I’m meeting up for drinks after with some people from the discord, and they want to meet you.”

Tim preened. “Well, naturally,” he said, before sliding down the bar to mess with Jon’s stack of papers. From the top sheet, they were due to rob an executive of Navient who had been overriding student loan forgiveness applications illegally. Tim grinned in approval. “You should join us, Boss,” he added.

Jon smiled down at his papers as he wrangled them back from Tim, marking a red ‘X’ next to the executive’s name. “I don’t think it’s really my scene,” he said.

“Oh come on, Jon,” Melanie objected, not for the first time. “You’d _love_ it. You’re basically a real-life DM.”

Jon hummed noncommittally. “Why don’t you take Daisy?” He asked.

Daisy laughed. “No way,” she said. “You’re both nerds.”

Melanie made a face at Daisy. “You listen to BBC4,” she said. “That’s ages worse.”

“She has a point,” Jon said, still not looking up from his paperwork. This Navient executive was apparently a real piece of work.

“You listen to it with me,” Daisy argued.

‘Well, yes,” Jon said, gesturing with his pen. “ _Ironically_. Besides, Basira and Rosie are coming over for one of our poker nights.”

Melanie turned towards Daisy. “Wait, you play poker with three Beholding avatars?”

Daisy shrugged. “Keeps things interesting.”

Additional debate halted when Martin breezed through the front door, flipping the sign from “OPEN” to “CLOSED” and rubbing his hands together against the winter cold, smiling and waving at a few of the graduate student regulars who would hang around after closing to avoid waiting outside for the night bus to swing around. He hung his overcoat on a hook behind the bar and came to hover behind Jon, absentmindedly kissing the back of his head before leaning over to catch a glimpse at the paperwork for their upcoming job. “Ooh, nice,” he said, patting Jon’s shoulder before ambling behind the bar. “What’s going on?”

Melanie waved her tickets. “Tim and I are going to the live Rusty Quill Gaming show,” she said. “You wanna come?”

Martin beamed at them. “Oh, that’s great,” he said. “I kind of promised that I’d go to Emmie’s reading tonight though? There might be a rep from a local publishing house there.” Emmie was one of the student workers at Schwartzwald Books. “I mean,” Martin continued, “I’m going as —“ he made air quotes “—‘Martin Blackwood,’ but it’s important to show support.”

“ _You’re_ Martin Blackwood,” they all chorused in response. Martin flapped a hand at them and went to collect some of the empty coffee cups that were lingering on the far tables.

Daisy sighed, turning to stare at Jon meaningfully. “Look, even Melanie and Tim have their internet friends, even if they’re elves and gnomes— “

“—neither of those is a D&D classification,” Melanie broke in loftily.

“—But name one person who you hang out with who isn’t a current or former coworker.”

Jon scowled up at his team and opened his mouth.

“ _Don’t say Georgie_ ,” they all added.


End file.
